In The Blink Of An Eye
by Stitchious
Summary: Looking back he wouldnt have guessed that his life could change like that in so little time sure he was a treasure hunter but this was nothing like that not really but he knew that taking on board a seven year old was worth the life change.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: im not all that great at these but im trying anyway let me know what you think oh yeah and I don't own em I just play with em and put em back after :0)

Summary: When he takes custody of the young boy he never imagined he would be key to helping solve the family history of 'Charlotte'.

-break-

When he woke up that morning he was unaware that his life was going to change forever. Sure he could predict his life changing (but that would have been treasure related), just not in that way, because lets be honest he was only 25 but then he had never heard of a case quite like his.

To tell this story properly would require starting at the beginning, six months earlier, when a trip to the grocery store ended up being so much more.

Ben entered the grocery store and did a mental list of what he was going to need. He noticed the child that appeared in all the aisles he went down but though nothing of it. He could honestly say that if the events that unfolded hadn't unfolded then he wouldn't even be able to tell you what color the kids hoodie was. He was nearing the end of his mental shopping list when he heard the shouting, he slowly put his basket down and crept down the aisle toward the noise when a hand grabbed his trouser leg. He jumped and turned to look at the owner of the hand and found that it belonged to the child he'd seen several times that night. He grabbed the hand and raised a finger to his lips in a silent order to keep quiet and peered round the corner carefully.

There were three of them at least, that he could see and they held guns. The people at the checkout were cowering behind there stations and he could see one lay out with a pool of blood surrounding his head. He looked to the window and frowned the shutters were down. He inched back and looked at the child, he looked about seven maybe eight. He reached down and quietly picked the boy up and started a slow and quiet walk down to the other end of the aisle away from the guns. Reaching the end of the aisle he lowered the boy and sat down himself.

"What's your name?" he whispered to the boy

"Riley" the boy said quietly "I'm scared"

"Riley that's a cool name, I know your scared I'll protect you don't worry, how old are you Riley?"

Riley held up seven fingers "nearly eight I am"

Ben smiled at the boy "are you here with someone?" He heard a shout and the boy shuffled closer to him, Ben put his arm round the boys shoulders and hoped he would be able to protect the boy.

"Nope the home dunt much care were we be, theres lots of us" the boy shrugged

"don't care where we are" Ben corrected automatically "you live in a foster home Riley?"

"yeah since me mom and dad left, they said they was commin back but I was five when they said that" Riley said softly while staring at the floor.

Ben looked at Riley and felt for him, it sounded like he had a tough childhood so far, sure Bens parents had fought a lot when was little even when they split but at least they had loved him and hadn't just up and left him. "Do you like history Riley?" he asked changing the subject.

It had been at least twenty minutes since they had first heard the shouts and they had been joined by four other people. They were sat in a huddle with Ben keeping a close eye on Riley which was unnecessary since the boy was sat in his lap and wasn't moving any time soon. Ben knew the police where there because one of his new 'friends' had confirmed they had been called when he had asked. It was half eight by now and surprisingly quiet in the store.. although that might be a good thing. He could also hear them outside trying to talk to the robbers who were shouting and swearing. Apparently this hadn't gone how they had hoped, they knew that Ben and the others were in the building but had told them that as long as they kept quiet and stayed at that end of the aisle they would be unharmed. Ben shook his head at that, tell the guy who was lieing in a pool of his own blood right now, speaking of Ben looked up when he heard movement and saw the other three cashiers heading up the aisle quickly. They spoke quietly and quickly when they reached the group, "they are gonna try and escape out the side door…this should be over soon I hope" the youngest of the group said.

Ben let out a sigh of relief "hows the guy they hit is he…" he cut off looking down at Riley sat reading a box cereal he was trying to sound out the long words

The woman who's name tag declared her as SallyAnn followed his gaze and smiled sadly "with that much blood I dunno we haven't been able to check but he aint made a noise …" she trailed off with a jump and looked down the aisle when the side door slammed shut.

Riley looked up at Ben and said "have they gone can we go now, I'm hungry I wanna get some food"

Ben smiled at the boy and said "I think so...is that your favourite cereal?" he asked looking at the box in the child's lap, when he nodded Ben continued "well I'm sure as long as I pay for them later that SallyAnn and her friends won't mind if you eat some"

Riley looked at the woman and she smiled and nodded. He opened the box and dug in just as the police officer walked into the store and announced that they were out of harm's way and could leave once they had given their statements.

-Break-

Theres this little button called a review button…go on ya now ya wanna ;0)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Im sorry its been so long, joys of being a third year uni student had tons of assignments to do and a dissertation to sort out. Things have calmed enough for me to write this chapter, however I have an assessment in a couple of weeks so I may not add another chapter till after that. Also I apologise if there are any errors in spelling I havent fully checked this after typing it up properly as I have conjunctivitis in both eyes so reading the screen is a bit of a pain.

Hope you like this. Please review it helps to know what people think and can be helpful in improving writing styles etc.

Chapter 2

After the police had taken their statements Ben looked down at the boy and frowned _what to do with him_ he wondered, "Riley would you like me to ring your foster parents? They must be worried about you by now"

Riley looked up at the man and frowned slightly, _he had only known him a few hours but he felt safe with him, he had protected him, which was something he had never experienced before, his foster parents never made sure he was safe, they never cared what he was doing as long as he stayed out of their way, which he had learnt do at a very quickly, especially if they had been drinking, which was most of the time now since Mr. Frank wasn't working, of course he hadn't always managed to stay out of their way even though he tried to. It was just him though, he wished there were others like he had told Ben there were, then maybe he would be ok it hadn't always been like it though back when Mr. Franks still had his job he was nice, he would tell Riley stories and show him how to do stuff, he wished he was still like that. _Riley frowned slightly before saying "they wunt care, wunt even know I'm gone"

Ben tried not to look shocked at this statement and studying the boys features he realised that he must be somewhat underweight and given his age he was on the small side. "would you like me to give you a ride home Riley?" even as he said it he didn't really want to take him home, if his suspicions were true then taking him home should be the LAST thing he did.

"Dunt wanna go home yet" Riley stated and Ben noticed that the boy had gone slightly pale at the mention of home.

Ben frowned and tried to work out what he should do his gut was telling that delivering Riley into the care of his foster parents was not a good thing to do, Riley's reaction to his foster parents and his admission that they wouldn't miss him spoke volumes and could he really let a child go back to foster parents who at the very least neglected him. "why dont you want to go home Riley?" Ben figured at least if he questioned the boy and found out more then he would be able to figure out what to do. Riley shook his head and looked at the floor "I need to know Riley, are you sure they wont miss you?"

Riley spoke quietly and kept his head down and his trained on the floor "they don't want me, they said I was a pain and that i had to stay out the way" he was sniffling by this point and Ben stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him and hugged him, trying to comfort him. He couldn't understand why Riley's foster parents would say such things to him. Riley winced and whimpered slightly as Ben hugged him. this caused Ben to pull back and look at Riley closely "Are you hurt Riley?"

Riley shook his head and refused to meet Ben's gaze. Ben frowned and said "I need to know if you are, you need to see a doctor if you are" Riley kept quiet and Ben stood and said "Ok come on" he took Riley's hand and walked him to his car. Riley looked at him as they reached his car and spoke "where are we going?"

Ben looked at him and said quietly "the hospital I want to make sure you're ok, its important that you get looked over Riley, if you are hurt it needs to be checked to make sure its not a bad injury Ok?"

Riley went slightly pale but nodded mutely. _If Ben knew the truth maybe he could help him, maybe he could find a family that would love him and not hit him when he was clumsy or for making to much noise_.

Ben sat in the hard hospital chair, it had taken a fair amount of persuasion to get Riley to get in the car and agree to going to the hospital and even now he wondered if he had done the right thing, he only hoped that he hadn't made things worse for Riley where his foster parents were concerned but when he had hugged him and Riley had whimpered had opened his eyes a bit. He had realised that he really couldn't send him home not when he suspected that they could be using their foster son as a punching bag, they were meant to protect him, he had been placed in their care, it wasn't right. He tapped his fingers against his leg and sighed, Riley had been in there for two hours, Ben hadn't been allowed in as he wasn't family, so he had to convince Riley that he would wait outside and that he would be fine, the doctors wanted to help him.

Ben dozed off slightly and awoke with a start when the quiet was shattered by the doors to paeds opening suddenly, he sat up and rubbed his hand over his face. He watched the doctor walk over and noted the grave look on his face, Ben's heart sank it didn't look good.

The doctor observed the young man that had bought the child in, he was young that was clear, he had stayed which meant that he cared for the child. When he had bought the child in he had told the doctors that he suspected the child may have been injured and unfortunately he was right, the child was injured and it wasn't accidental at all. "Mr Gates?" he questioned.

Ben nodded and stood up, he looked at the doctor and asked, "is he going to be ok? can I see him?"

the doctor looked at him and said "we have called the police, the injuries Riley has sustained are most defiantly not accidental, I cant tell you much but the films we took speak volumes, you were right to bring him in. The police need to speak with him first and they will decide whether or not you will be able to see him, we are going to keep him in for observation for a few days, he is underweight and that is worrying. I'm sorry I cant tell you more"

Ben nodded and said "I'll wait for the police then, thank you doctor" the doctor nodded and walked away. Ben sighed and sank back into the chair and pondered what to do, it was strange, he felt an over whelming need to protect Riley.

The police arrived less than half an hour later and Ben watched them disappear into the ward and waited for them to question him, he didn't have to wait long, they reappeared less than five minutes later and approached him.

"Mr Gates?" Ben nodded and thought that he had been called that more times tonight than in his entire life. "could you come with us while we question Riley, he is getting agitated and the doctors are worried he will hurt himself, he keeps asking for you" Ben shoot up and nodded.

Riley sat in the hospital bed, tears streaming down his face. he wanted Ben he made him feel safe, these doctors had stuck him with needles and taken x-rays of him and he was scared now. They had told him that his arm was fractured and that were gonna put it in a cast, it didn't hurt that much anymore and he had told them as much. the doctors had just given him that smile and said that it was going to help the bones finish mending properly. When the police had walked in to talk to him he had freaked out he knew that, they looked scary and when he had started asking for Ben and crying and trying to get out of the bed they had left the room. The doors opened and Riley looked up to see who it was and he smiled genuinely for the first time since he entered the hospital. "Ben I knew you wouldn't leave me, I don't wanna stay here no more please make them let me go please Ben"

Ben approached Riley and sat on the edge of his bed. "you need to stay here for a few days Riley, they need to look after you and make sure that you are really ok buddy, tell you what though, if they let me and you are good I will come and visit you everyday ok?"

Riley contemplated this and looked at the doctor and the police in the room.

"I think that can be arranged" the police officer stated and Riley nodded "Ok Ben I'll be good and stay"

"Ok buddy, I'm not leaving but you need to talk to the police ok they wont hurt you I promise"

Riley nodded and answered their questions, he told them about his foster parents and what they said and did, it was easy to do with Ben there with him, Ben wouldn't let anyone hurt him he had said so, he trusted Ben.

Ben left the room when Riley fell asleep, the police were there with social services and he wanted to talk to them, he had made a decision. he walked up to them and said, "I want to look after Riley, what do I need to do?"

the social worker looked at him for a while before she spoke "Riley has been through a lot are you sure you want to take on a child that is damaged like that Mr. Gates, he isn't a puppy you cant give him back if you get bored"

Ben frowned, "I wont want to give him back I want him, I know he has been through a lot and I want to help him, I cant explain it but I just do, please give me a chance, I have my own house, he would have his own room, space to play, a garden, he could be himself and I would look after him"

The social worker nodded and pulled out a set of forms, "fill these in and then we can talk about the next steps, maybe we can get a judge to rush a decision on this as a matter of emergency, in all honesty we don't have anywhere to place him at the moment so if your sure this could work out well for all concerned."

Ben nodded and took the forms, "thank you I will fill these in now, whats happening with the Franks?"

The social worker sighed "they have been arrested and have admitted everything, it seems that when the husband lost his job he took to drinking heavily and started to take it out on Riley, the wife pretended that it wasn't happening"

Ben nodded and looked disgusted "I will go and fill these out, how long will you be here?"

"I have to talk with the police and the doctors and have a meeting about all this so I should still be here when you are done"

_Thats all for now, I will update again soon. I know that some of this may seem off but I really dont know much about fostering and adopting in the US as I am from the UK so I apologise if there are any inaccuracies (this is a fic so I guess I can make up my own rules some what :0) Please review)_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: sorry for not updating in such a long time, life has been hectic. I will try and update more regularly now.

As always I don't own em I just play with em :0)

Chapter Three

Ben sat in the social workers office the following morning waiting for Mrs McKay to finish up a phone call. A thousand thoughts running through his mind, 'would a single man be able to adopt a young boy', 'if he was allowed to adopt Riley how long would the process take', 'could he take him home straight away', 'would he pass all the home visits', 'was he too young to adopt Riley' and most importantly 'would Riley want to be adopted by him, or would he prefer to be adopted by a couple'. The minutes felt like hours as he waited, and the unease in his stomach worsened as he considered the possibility of Riley going back to yet another foster family, one that may hurt him again. It wouldn't be deliberate he knew that, the 'system' was simply overworked, understaffed, there were simply too many children abandoned like last weeks garbage, too many single mothers unable to cope, too many children orphaned by tragedy and not enough foster parents that were loving and could provide a safe environment to nurture a child and help them grow. Ben had arranged the meeting for this morning after handing over the forms and spending the night by Riley's bedside, holding his hand and reassuring him that he hadn't left while he was asleep. He felt an overwhelming need to protect Riley, like his father had protected him as a child.

Mrs McKay finished her phone call and turned her attention to the man sat in front of her. He was young, yet he seemed wise beyond his years. The nurses had told her he had stayed by Riley Chance's bed all night and Riley seemed attached to him. His first attachment since his parents had abandoned him in front of a fire station looking younger than his 5 years of age. The forms had filled in and now she had to arrange a home visit and talk to Mr Gates about the process he was about to go through. Hopefully it could all be arranged for Mr Gates to be Riley's foster parent in time for Riley's release from hospital.  
>"Mr Gates, the forms have been processed as urgent and Judge I spoke to has no problem with you becoming foster parent once all the necessary assessments have been made. Once that is done you can start proceedings to adopt, which I will put through as soon as it is legal for you to foster Riley unless you inform me otherwise. Are you with me so far?"<p>

Ben let out a sigh of relief "yes, thank you. How long will the assessments tale?"

Mrs McKay smiled, "we are rushing all the paperwork due to the events proceeding this. I have already done the required checks and the feedback on those will be in within the hour, in the meantime I need to arrange a home visit, to check that your home is child friendly, safe and suitable for Riley to live in and suits his needs".

Ben nodded, "I can have everything sorted by tomorrow afternoon, the sooner this is sorted the better, no offence but I don't want Riley in another foster home, after what happened at the last one".

Mrs McKay nodded and smiled, "brilliant I could come over about 3pm, would that be ok?"

Ben nodded and the rest of the meeting was talk about what would happen after the home visit. Ben left the building feeling lighter than when he went in. He knew he had a lot to do, the spare room needed to be cleared and reprinted, furniture needed buying and delivering, toys needed buying and clothes. He had Riley's clothes size from the nurse he rang at the hospital when he called to check on Riley, he had spoken to him and explained he had some errands to run and would be back soon.

Ben pulled out his mobile and called his dad to tell him to meet him at the mall. He was lucky Ben thought as he got in the car, when he had told his dad about trying to adopt Riley he had welcomed the idea. He made a mental list while driving of all he needed to get, he was lucky really that he had his inheritance off his grandad on his mothers side. That was going to pay for a good chunk of what he had to buy today and hopefully he would be able to afford decent schooling for Riley, he didn't make much at his job but it might be enough, especially if he took the teaching job he had been offered. Ben shock himself mentally and parked the car in the nearest parking space. Getting out he looked for his dad and saw him at the entrance.

"Dad, how are you?" Ben asked walking up to him

"I'm fine son, how are you? Tell me about this grandson of mine" Patrick Gates was proud of his son, he had formed a close bond with the boy called Riley it would seem, he had told him that Riley was a foster child and that he wanted to adopt him, we'll that was fine by him, family was important more than the damned treasure he had wasted more than half of his life looking for.

"He's great dad, a bit shy which is hardly surprising when you consider what he has been through, you will love him. I just want to protect him from everything keep him safe like you did me. He likes cars, told me about his old collection of hotwheels cars, said they got lost a while back" Ben frowned and thought that Riley's old foster dad had probably binned them in a drunken rage. "The things that man did to him dad, I felt sick when he told the police that he had been sleeping on the floor because he had wet the bed too many times, that he had to be quiet and stay out of the way at all times otherwise Franks would beat him and the wife just let him do made out she didn't know it was going on" Ben shook his head.

Patrick Gates wrapped his arm around his son, "he will be ok now Ben you and I will make sure of that, no-one will ever hurt him again I promise that"

Ben nodded, "come on dad let's go get Riley a room every little boy wants" they headed into the furniture store knowing that Riley would be safe and loved from now on.

Three hours later Ben had a bed, desk, chair and other bedroom furniture bought and it was being delivered at 8pm that night. Ben had chosen a car theme for Riley's room and had bought a plaque proclaiming Riley's Room for his door. The paint had been bought a nice red and transfers for the walls were stashed away in a bag. Ben looked at the toy section of the shop they were in and frowned, which cars would Riley want, would he like some books, could he read properly. Sighing Ben put a selection of cars into the trolley, along with a stack of books, a car mat, some colouring supplies and some dinosaurs. He hoped that was enough for now and it was as he entered the electrical section for some films that he saw the play station one. It was impulse tha made him buy it, it was on offer afterall nearly half price he would have been mad to say no to that. He put a selection of films in and headed for the clothes section where his dad was trying to pick out clothes for Riley. Ben laughed out loud and went over to his dad "want a hand?" He laughed as he asked.

"I forgot how much choice there is nowadays any idea what he likes to wear?"

Ben shrugged and said "I will just get him some jeans t-shirts and hoodies for now and then bring him out to choose his own clothes at some point. Ben picked out some nice jeans, tops and hoodies and then grabbed underclothing. Next he looked at the footwear and smiled at the memory of Riley tracing the sole of his converses and saying how cool they looked. Looking along the aisle he found the converses and picked up two pairs in Riley's size.

With everything bought Ben and his dad headed back to their cars and headed to Bens house to clear the spare room, paint and set up the furniture.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: here's the next part hope you enjoy :-)

Chapter 4

The following day Ben sat in his spacious living room mentally reviewing all the things he needed to do and whether he had done them. He looked around the room and his eyes landed on his dad, he was sat on the couch opposite him, he wanted to show his support and in all honesty Ben was glad he was there.

The doorbell rang and jolted him from his thoughts. He took a deep breathe and headed over to let Mrs McKay in.

"Mrs McKay, how are you? Please come in" Ben smiled.

Mrs McKay smiled back, "Thank you Mr Gates, I'm very well how are you?"

"Im fine a bit nervous thank you, please call me Ben, would you like a drink?" Ben walked over to couch with Mrs McKay hoping he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.

"Coffee please Ben, don't be nervous this is just a formality really to make sure that you house will accommodate Riley's needs, that it isn't a death trap for a child."

Patrick Gates choose that moment to butt in, "I will make the drinks son"

Ben smiled his thanks at his dad, "This is my father Patrick Gates"

Mrs McKay shook the hand extended to her, "Hello Mr Gates, its nice to see that Ben has family that support the massive decision he is making."

Patrick Gates nodded, "He's my son I will support whatever makes him happy and from the way he has talked about Riley and pulled things together for him, I can tell my son wants nothing more than to be a great father to the boy"

Ben showed Mrs McKay around the house while his dad made drinks, he saved Riley's room till last, looking at the door he smiled, it looked great in bright blue with its multi-coloured plaque proclaiming it to be 'Riley's Room'.

"This is Riley's room, I've tried to make it how he would like, when I spoke with him he said he loves cars so I figured that was a great theme to go with. I got him books and toys, plus some clothes that will fit him, I checked with Riley's doctor and he assured me they would fit, plus I made sure that he had clothes that would accommodate his cast. I'm sorry I'm rambling"

"Ben it's fine and the room looks great, you have put a lot of thought into this and I'm sure he will love it. The house is fine, everything seems to be in order and it's not a death trap, so why don't we go and sit down and talk about what happens next and have that drink?"

Ben nodded and walked back to the lounge feeling much better.

"Everything has come back great as I said, in fact I spoke with Riley's doctor this morning and he says you can pick him up at 5pm. There is only one question I have for you and that's whether or not you have looked into schooling for Riley?"

Ben grinned, "wow he can be discharged… wait I passed, I can bring him home?"

Mrs McKay chuckled, "yes you passed, Riley will be released into your care under a temporary care order, in a couple of months you will meet with the judge and he will decide on whether to grant you full custody"

Ben's grin widen, "Ok, greats, that's wow! School, yes I have looked at several brochures and I will be setting up interviews this week, I decided to wait till Riley was out of the hospital as I want him present as its his choice as well, I don't want to enrol him in a school where he doesn't feel comfortable." He handed her the brochures.

"Riley will be private schooled?"

"Yes, I was also private schooled and it was a fantastic experience and I want Riley to have the best chances of success, plus I have the funding to be able to do it, as you probably know from looking at my records"

Mrs McKay grinned, "Nothing remains private in these things, its nice you want Riley to have the best. Well everything is in order so I will leave you now and let you go fetch Riley and I will check in on you both in a couple of weeks"

Ben grinned and thanked her as he walked her to the door, Mrs McKay sais her goodbyes to both Gates men and headed to her car, her only thoughts were that Riley Chance was one lucky boy, Ben Gates was definitely attached and wanted the best for him.

Ben looked at his dad and grinned, "I'm going to go pick up Riley now dad, do you want to wait here, give me chance to let Riley know he will be meeting you so he doesn't feel overwhelmed"

Patrick nodded, "you go son, I will wait here and start dinner" Patrick smiled broadly, his son was a dad.

Ben headed to Riley's room and quickly packed some clothes into Riley's new backpack. He said goodbye to his dad and grabbing his keys headed to the hospital.


End file.
